Links – Assistive Sight Loss Technology

This page contains a variety of links on assistive technology for people with sight loss that you may find useful. All products and apps are available in the UK, but some may also be available internationally. They are divided into headings if that helps you jump through the page.

Be sure to check out the other links pages in the menu bar, as well as my own posts & videos about my disability, and videos by others about assistive technology that I recommend.

If you have any links you think I should add here, you can contact me on Twitter, Facebook or email.

Talking Computers – “A free monthly audio magazine about using computers; especially for visually-impaired people who use screen-readers and other aids. All of the articles are provided by the listeners.”

Vital Tech – “Your guide through the world of assistive tech. Our site is managed by blind and partially sighted people, for blind and partially sighted people. Browse our themes for guidance and instructional videos on all things tech. “

Organisations

British Computer Association Of The Blind – “BCAB is the oldest association of blind and partially sighted technology users in the world. Originally created to support computer professionals, we now promote and encourage the use of technology amongst all blind and partially sighted people.”

Wearable Cameras

Aira – “Connects people who are blind or low vision to a trained professional agent who is dedicated to further enhancing their everyday experience – completely hands-free assistance at the touch of a button.”

Give Vision – “SightPlus is a wearable headset that can be used to magnify close-up or far-away objects, change the contrast or apply custom filters to anything you are looking at. It is hands-free, portable and easy-to-use for a large variety of tasks.”

Navigation

Soundscape – Free Microsoft app to help visually impaired people navigate their surroundings, using 3D audio to pinpoint places, streets and other features of interest.

BlindSquare – “Pioneering accessible navigation both indoors and outdoors. Know where you are, know where you’re going, travel with confidence.”

Ariadne GPS – “More than a simple GPS app. Besides offering you the possibility to know your position and to get information about the street, the number, etc. it also lets you explore the map of what’s around you. If you have VoiceOver activated on your device, you will be able to know the street names and numbers that are around you by touching them.”

Tap Tap See – “Helps the blind and visually impaired identify objects they encounter in their daily lives. Simply double tap the screen to take a photo of anything, at any angle, and hear the app speak the identification back to you using VoiceOver.”

Aipoly – “Object and color recognizer that helps the blind, visually impaired, and color blind understand their surroundings. Simply point your phone at the object of interest and press any of the recognition buttons at the bottom of the screen to turn on the artificial intelligence.”

LookTel Recognizer – “Allows those persons having visual impairments or blindness to identify cans, packages, ID or credit cards, DVDs, and similar items.”

Minerva – “Visually impaired people face different kinds of difficulties in their lives like identifying objects, reading texts from reading materials, recognizing the currency of money, and many more. Minerva is an Android application that empowers the visually impaired people to see the world through words everyday.”

Prizmo – “Universal photo-based scanner app that lets you scan and recognize text documents, business cards, and images, and then export them as PDF/Text, vCard, or JPEG/PNG.”

Selfiex – “Lets you take selfies with the better rear camera of the Phone, and voices directions to guide your framing: right, left, up or down.”

Sight And Sound – Seller of JAWS, Zoomtext and various other items of software and hardware.

Other Apps

Be My Eyes – “Access visual assistance on demand, if you are blind or visually impaired, or lend your eyes to the blind or visually impaired if you are sighted.”

VisionSim – “Allows people with healthy vision to see the world through the eyes of a person experiencing one of nine degenerative eye diseases.”

VIA App Directory – “Helps identify apps that are useful for adults and children who are blind or have low vision, including those with additional disabilities. Users can easily sort through the 500,000+ apps in the App Store and locate those that were built specifically for, or provide functionality to, the user with a visual impairment.”